Architecture and Compiler Tradeoffs for a Long Instruction Word Microprocessor

A very long instruction word (VLIW) processorexploits parallelism by controlling multiple operations in a single instruction word. This paper describes the architecture and compiler tradeoffs in the design of iWarp, a VLIW single-chip microprocessor developed in a joint project with Intel Corp. The iWarp processor is capable of specifying up to nine operations in an instruction word and has a peak performance of 20 million floating-point operations and 20 million integer operations per second. An optimizing compiler has been constructed and used as a tool to evaluate the different architectural proposals in the development of iWarp. We present here the analysis and compiler optimizations for those architectural features that address two key issues in the design of a VLIW microprocessor: code density and a streamlined execution cycle. We support the results of our analysis with performance data for the Livermore Loops and a selection of programs from the LINPACK library. This research ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1989
• Where: ASPLOS
• Authors: Robert Cohn, Thomas R. Gross, Monica S. Lam, P. S. Tseng
• Keywords: ASPLOS 1989, Instruction Word, Long Instruction Word, Programming Languages, VLIW Single-chip Microprocessor